Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Anticonvulsant drugs have been used in the management of pain since the 1960s. The clinical impression is that they are useful for chronic neuropathic pain, especially when the pain is lancinating or burning. ⋯ Although anticonvulsants are used widely in chronic pain surprisingly few trials show analgesic effectiveness. No trial compared different anticonvulsants. Only one studied considered cancer pain. There is no evidence that anticonvulsants are effective for acute pain. In chronic pain syndromes other than trigeminal neuralgia, anticonvulsants should be withheld until other interventions have been tried. While gabapentin is increasingly being used for neuropathic pain the evidence would suggest that it is not superior to carbamazepine.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2000
ReviewInhaled steroids in acute asthma following emergency department discharge.
Patients with acute asthma treated in the emergency department are frequently treated with inhaled beta-agonists and corticosteroids (CS) after discharge. The use of inhaled CS (ICS) following discharge may also be beneficial in acute asthma. ⋯ There is insufficient evidence that ICS therapy provides additional benefit when used in combination with standard CS therapy upon ED discharge for acute asthma. There is some evidence that high-dose ICS therapy alone may be as effective as CS therapy when used in mild asthmatics upon ED discharge; however, there is a significant possibility of a type II error in drawing this conclusion. Further research is needed to clarify whether ICS therapy should be employed in acute asthma treatment in the ED or following ED discharge.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2000
ReviewSingle dose oral ibuprofen and diclofenac for postoperative pain.
Ibuprofen and diclofenac are two widely used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) analgesics. It is therefore important to know which drug should be recommended for postoperative pain relief. This review seeks to compare the relative efficacy of the two drugs, and also considers the issues of safety and cost. ⋯ Both drugs work well. Choosing between them is an issue of dose, safety and cost.
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Recurrent episodic wheeze in association with viral upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) is a specific clinical illness distinct from persistent atopic asthma. ⋯ Episodic high dose inhaled corticosteroids provide a partially effective strategy for the treatment of mild episodic viral wheeze of childhood. There is no current evidence to favour maintenance low dose inhaled corticosteroids in the prevention and management of episodic mild viral induced wheeze.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2000
ReviewNeuromuscular paralysis for newborn infants receiving mechanical ventilation.
Ventilated newborn infants breathing in asynchrony with the ventilator are at risk for complications during mechanical ventilation, such as pneumothorax or intraventricular hemorrhage, and are exposed to more severe barotrauma, which consequently could impair their clinical outcome. Neuromuscular paralysis, which eliminates spontaneous breathing efforts of the infant, has potential advantages in this respect. However, a number of complications have been reported with muscle relaxation in infants, so that concerns exist regarding the safety of prolonged neuromuscular paralysis in newborn infants. ⋯ For ventilated preterm infants with evidence of asynchronous respiratory efforts, neuromuscular paralysis with pancuronium seems to have a favourable effect on intraventricular hemorrhage and possibly on air leak. Uncertainty remains, however, regarding the long term pulmonary and neurologic effects, and regarding the safety of prolonged use of pancuronium in ventilated newborn infants. There is no evidence from randomized trials on the effects of neuromuscular blocking agents other than pancuronium. Therefore, the routine use of pancuronium or any other neuromuscular blocking agent in ventilated newborn infants cannot be recommended based on current evidence.